Prem Dhawan’s lyricis have everlasting appeal
Written by V.S DATTA (Editor , N.I.P Allahabad ) Monday, 25 May 2015 14:57
A famous lyricist whom we also lost in the month of May was Prem Dhawan. He passed away on May 7, 2001—fourteen years ago.Do you know that Prem Dhawan the lyricist-cum-music director-cum dancer was introduced to films by Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar and that his favorite duet was ‘Seene mein sulagte hain arman?’ Well, in the course of an interview he said that when he went to Bombay Talkies for work, it was Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar who interviewed him. His first movie was ‘Ziddi’ and he says that his favorite song is ‘Chanda re jare ja re’ from that film. He also wrote lyrics for Bombay Talkies’ ‘Majboor’ in which Ghulam Haider introduced Lata to sing for a heroine (Munnawar Sultana) for the first time. The solo by Lata, ‘O piya milne ko aa, main to jeeti hoon tere bharose…’ There was a sad haunting number by Geeta Roy too: ‘Main to reh gai aj akeli re, mera koi nahin’, endered on the screen by Al;lahabad’s Indu Paul. And how can we forget the Lata-Mukesh duet from ‘Majboor’:, ‘Ab darne ki koi baat nahin angrezi chora chala gaya’. He also wrote patriotic numbers of Manoj Kumar’s ‘Shaheed’- ‘Tu na rona ke tu hai Bhagat Singh ki maa’, ‘Ai watan’, ‘Hum Hindustani’’s ‘Chorro kal ki baten..hum Hindustani’ and Kabuliwala’s ‘Ai mere pyare watan tujh pe dil qurban’.
About the ‘Tarana’ duet filmed on Madhubala and Dilip Kumar in the voices of Talat Mahmood and Lata, Prem once recalled that he was going to meet his old friend, husband of playback singer Surinder Kaur. Anilda was with him in car. He told Prem, ‘You go and come. But meanwhile give me any lyrics that you have in mind. I will compose tune for them waiting in car here’. Prem gave him the lyrics. When he returned after a short while the tune was ready. And the song was that classic, unforgettable number, ‘Seene mein sulagte hain arman ankhon mein
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Written by V.S DATTA (Editor , N.I.P Allahabad ) Monday, 25 May 2015 14:57 udaasi chhai hai’ (Tarana). What a fabulous tune it was. Prem Dhawan’s ‘Beimaan tore nainwa’ from this film also gave scope to Anil Biswas to churn out a soothing melody in the voice of Lata for Madhubala. Born in Ambala on June 13, 1923, Prem Dhawan was to see many places in his childhood since his father, engaged in the service of the British empire as a Jail Superintendent, had a transferable job. Prem Dhawan went to College in Lahore, where his senior was the illustrious Inder Kumar Gujral, who later on became the Prime Minister of India. One of his classmates was the great poet-lyricist, Sahir Ludhianvi.The three took active interest in politics and also the college union, and Prem developed a passion for the freedom struggle. As we can see, this led him to write many patriotic songs. He joined the Communist Party of India, and participated in many movements against the British. Later he went to Mumbai to join the IPTA, and found this a platform to express the revolutionary ideas through songs, dances and writings. Here he came in contact with Pt. Ravi Shankar, under whom he learnt classical music. From Shanti Roy Bardhan,, who had broken away from Ravi Shankar’s elder brother the great Uday Shankar’s dance troupe, he learnt classical dance.
Surprisingly he enough, Prem Dhawan joined the film industry as an assistant to music director Khurshid Anwar in Pagdandi (1946), apparently in Lahore. He made his debut as a lyricist in Ziddi (1948). This movie also made history of sorts, with Kishore Kumar singing for Dev Anand for the first time . Lata’s Chanda re jaa re jaa re, was Dhawan’s favourite. He had memorable partnerships with the doyens like Khemchand Prakash, Hans Raj Behl, Salil Chaudhuri, Anil Biswas, Ravi and Chitragupta. Some of his movies with the music directors are :
Anil Biswas - Tarana (1951) and Hamdard (1953) Hans Raj Behl – Sawan, Resham, Miss Bombay, Miss Goodnight Salil Chaudhury – Tangawali (1955), Jaagte Raho (1956) and Kabuliwala (1961) Ravi – Dus Lakh, Ek Phool Do Mali, Pyar ka Sagar, Ek Saal, Apna GharChitragupta – Guest House, Baazigar, Rocket Girl, Kabhi Dhoop Kabhi Chaon, Bada Aadmi, Aadhi Raat ke Baad, Chalbaaz, Aplam Chaplam
Prem Dhawan as Music director:On the insistence of Manoj Kumar, Prem Dhawan turned music director with the movie Shaheed, where he came out with great music for songs written by himself – Ayewatan aye watan, Mera rangde basanti chola, Sarfarosh hi tamanna (original lyrics by Ram Prasad Bismil). He came out with another top performance in the movie Pavitra Paapi, which had many lovely numbers, including Kishore Kumar’s Teri Duniya se hoke majboor chala, and Mohd, Rafi’s Allah re Allah kar pyaar bhai.Prem Dhawan also gave music to a few more movies like Naxalites, Veer Abhimanyu, Bharat ke Shaheed, Kisan Aur Bhagwan, Mera Desh Mera Dharam and Raat ke AndhereMein. He had magic in his lyrics, as was seen in ‘Guest Houise’ number by Lata: ‘Tera jadoo na chalega O sapera, kahe m,aare m eri galiyon mein phere’. And how can you ever forget that children’s number which Asha Bhosle sang in film
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Written by V.S DATTA (Editor , N.I.P Allahabad ) Monday, 25 May 2015 14:57
‘Vachan’- ‘Chanda mama door ke…’ You might not have forgotten, ‘Ki main jhoot boleya’ from ‘Jagte Raho’ . But the memorable lyrics he composed for the song in which Nargis makes a fleeting return in the end of ‘Jagte Raho’ cannot be forgotten: ‘Jago Mohan pyare, navyug choome nain tihare…’
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